DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0337
ABAXA.
311
t0 the Xantb^
w li n
Kiss
mibeie'tui
o« ac fare copsl
<
far arcbheetunl
iaeiliryf
i had the grtre ii
', and the witrk'
i could out kpU
• Co fhsei
br tberiDage
• • . . ••
XantM
.r;- ni
P. 19ft^»
ment towards the north, and from the sandy colour of which
it derives its name, forms but a diminutive portion, as com-
pared with the river now roaring under our hut.
Of the ancient city but little remains; the higher part has
been surrounded by a fine Cyclopean wall, although the large
irregular stones composing it were chiselled round their
edges, forming the cushion-shaped fronts used in many of
the early Greek buildings, and since adopted by the Italians ;
this mode is termed, I believe, rusticated. The basement
and walls of several other buildings are also still standing,
and a number of broken columns and pedestals show the
remains of an ornamented city.
In the yard of one house we were taken to see some beau-
tiful pavements, formed in elegant patterns, with small
different-coloured slabs of marble. These pavements had
formed the floors of three different apartments, each pro-
bably not more than eight feet square, and all very near to-
gether ; one was of small stones, of the size, and quite similar
in arrangement to, the Roman mosaic: these buildings, from
their dimensions, can have been only baths.
I have obtained but few coins here, for the people only
preserve silver or gold ones, which may serve as ornaments;
they have never before had visitors to see their ruins, and
cannot understand our motives for seeking copper coins, or
for travelling. They tell us that their country is filled with
ruins; and we have this morning been a ride and laborious
walk up a mountain, nearly at the upper extremity of the
valley, in search of old cities: there are however only the
traces of some rude Cyclopean walls around the craggy
summit of the hill; the absence of other buildings and
tombs leads me to suppose it to have been only a fortified
castle on the eastern side of the valley: directly opposite
to this, on the west side, was a point covered with similar
ruins.
Our excursion to-day of six miles has given us a more
311
t0 the Xantb^
w li n
Kiss
mibeie'tui
o« ac fare copsl
<
far arcbheetunl
iaeiliryf
i had the grtre ii
', and the witrk'
i could out kpU
• Co fhsei
br tberiDage
• • . . ••
XantM
.r;- ni
P. 19ft^»
ment towards the north, and from the sandy colour of which
it derives its name, forms but a diminutive portion, as com-
pared with the river now roaring under our hut.
Of the ancient city but little remains; the higher part has
been surrounded by a fine Cyclopean wall, although the large
irregular stones composing it were chiselled round their
edges, forming the cushion-shaped fronts used in many of
the early Greek buildings, and since adopted by the Italians ;
this mode is termed, I believe, rusticated. The basement
and walls of several other buildings are also still standing,
and a number of broken columns and pedestals show the
remains of an ornamented city.
In the yard of one house we were taken to see some beau-
tiful pavements, formed in elegant patterns, with small
different-coloured slabs of marble. These pavements had
formed the floors of three different apartments, each pro-
bably not more than eight feet square, and all very near to-
gether ; one was of small stones, of the size, and quite similar
in arrangement to, the Roman mosaic: these buildings, from
their dimensions, can have been only baths.
I have obtained but few coins here, for the people only
preserve silver or gold ones, which may serve as ornaments;
they have never before had visitors to see their ruins, and
cannot understand our motives for seeking copper coins, or
for travelling. They tell us that their country is filled with
ruins; and we have this morning been a ride and laborious
walk up a mountain, nearly at the upper extremity of the
valley, in search of old cities: there are however only the
traces of some rude Cyclopean walls around the craggy
summit of the hill; the absence of other buildings and
tombs leads me to suppose it to have been only a fortified
castle on the eastern side of the valley: directly opposite
to this, on the west side, was a point covered with similar
ruins.
Our excursion to-day of six miles has given us a more